A New Tune at the Willow Waterhole

Amanda didn’t want to be the only one in her family who didn’t have one. Her dad and brother had already gotten their Eagle Scout Badges, and now it came time for her to get hers. 

After starting out as a Boy Scout in sixth grade, junior Amanda Huttenbach finally achieved her Eagle Scout Badge after a month-long project to bring classical music and nature together. 

Inspired by QR codes of musical playlists along the Buffalo Bayou, Huttenbach wanted to do the same at Willow Waterhole for her Eagle Scout project. 

“I decided that for my project I was going to attach ten small signs to benches and two large signs, one of which was stuck on a board and the other was bolted to a pole that we cemented in the ground,” Huttenbach said. “You can scan the signs, and they’ll take you to a list of different playlists of classical music played by the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra.”

Though the orchestra only allowed certain pieces to be used for her project, Huttenbach made the most of what she was given, eventually selecting ten of the ROCO pieces for her playlist. Despite the challenges and the option to take on easier projects to get her Eagle Scout badge, Huttenbach said she still chose this specific project for the personal significance it had to her.

“I really like classical music and I feel like a lot of people don't like to listen to it,” Huttenbach said. “I didn't want to do something that everybody else does, and this is something more personal to me. If I just built a bench or whatever, it's not special to me. But with this, I can share my passion with others while giving them access to classical music.”

Junior Amanda Huttenbach (kneeling, middle) takes a group picture with her volunteers in the morning shift. Thanks to the large turnout, Huttenbach was also able to direct volunteers to install the signs as well as plant native flowers and clean up the park. 

While she doesn’t plan on expanding her classical music renovations to other parks, Huttenbach does want to add a sign with musical pieces that she has played. 

“I brought this idea up to the orchestra, but they were kind of iffy about it for copyright reasons or whatever,” Huttenbach said. “But, I did want to add in another sign of my own with a QR code to a bunch of pieces that I’ve played." 

With over 40 volunteers and 141 cumulative service hours from her project, Huttenbach couldn’t be happier with the result. 

“My most memorable moment was probably after we were done, looking around and seeing all the signs and their locations, and seeing people test them out on their phones,” Huttenbach said. “It was really worth the effort to see how much people enjoyed using the signs and listening to the music.”